Sidecar Cocktail - Small Screen Network The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess Sidecar Cocktail The sidecar is a classic cocktail which most bartenders know, but seems to be rarely ordered. Part of this is because it is poorly made, and more often than not made with sour mix instead of fresh ingredients. Properly made this drink should be made with cognac (or brandy), Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice. There are however a variety of ways these ingredients can be combined, the secret is how to do so in a way that presents a perfect balance. Ingredients Sidecar Cocktail Recipe You must be logged in to post a comment. Adding comment … aronsjoberggmailcom515827292 posted 7 months ago I like the so-called French version of the Sidecar, with equal parts of cognac/brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice! San Francisco posted 6 years ago I have had trouble with the Sidecar too. It is a bar favorite for me, but to get the best drink at home, I find I need add to the traditional recipe: 1.5 oz.

Remy Martin VSOP cognac, 1 oz lemon juice, .75 oz Cointreau and .25 oz. simple syrup in a sugar-frosted cocktail glass. This one, like most cocktails needs a real good stir to get enough water into the mix. J. MPK posted 6 years ago I bought a bottle of Cointreau a while ago for some recipe or another that my wife was making and they a small orange plastic shaker attached to the top. The shaker had markings for the correct proportions for a Sidecar, a margarita, etc. Just fill to the proper level for each ingredient. Simple and convenient. I had never had a Sidecar before and now I must say it is becoming one of my favorite cocktails. The proportions are the same as in the above recipe. TinyInThePark posted 6 years ago I use 2.5oz. Brandy, 1oz triple sec or cointreu, and lemon juice from a bottle. I use Christian Bros brandy. but I shake it over ice and pour entire contents into a low ball. TotheMoonAlice posted 6 years ago I would love a good recommendation for brandy or Cognac for the Sidecar.

I don't have a grand liquor budget and don't keep Cognac on hand, but I might if I knew what was a good value -- or even a solid brandy. I was surprised to hear that a local restaurant that takes pride in it's cocktails used Christian Brothers brandy for their sidecar. Still, when I make it at home it doesn't taste as good -- I do use fresh lemon juice and Cointreau. Of course, the ratios I've been using seem too "simple" to have been well-honed (two parts brandy/Cognac to one part each fresh lemon juice and Cointreau)... So if anyone has more finely-tune ratios, I'd love to hear them! A. Sidecar Cocktail - The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess - Small Screen - YouTube Sidecar Cocktail - The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess - Small Screen Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Nov 27, 2012 Small Screen delivers beautifully crafted videos about cocktails, bartending, mixology, food and cooking, each and every week. SUBSCRIBE to Small Screen: Be the first to know when new episodes air on our site! Sign up for the Small Screen Email Newsletter: The Cocktail Spirit on Facebook: Small Screen on Facebook: Small Screen on Twitter: Small Screen on Pinterest: The sidecar is a classic cocktail which most bartenders know, but seems to be rarely ordered. Part of this is because it is poorly made, and more often than not made with sour mix instead of fresh ingredients. Properly made this drink should be made with cognac (or brandy), Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice. There are however a variety of ways these ingredients can be combined, the secret is how to do so in a way that presents a perfect balance. Watch on Small Screen: Recipe: Mixology of the mouth: The Sidecar – A Measured Spirit Let’s get drinks Mixology of the mouth: The Sidecar A sugared rim adds elegance, texture, and forward sweetness to the classic Sidecar — which is why you need to mess with the recipe.

Demerara sugar adds a certain “whole grain crunch” to the classic Sidecar. Regular readers of this blog — both of them — may note that controlling sweetness is a sort of crusade of mine. A perfectly balanced drink rides that delicate edge where tart and sweet and booze all contribute equally, none getting too much attention. Which brings me to the Sidecar, a pre- [or during-] Prohibition [-ish] drink that in most contemporary renditions is mixed 2:1:1 — 1.5 oz cognac, .75 oz lemon juice, .75 oz Cointreau. Harry Braddock’s [ him again ] 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book has it at .5/.25/.25 [more evidence of the giantism that’s gallumphed into cocktaildom over the past few drinking generations.] The Sidecar is a wonderful, and yes, perfectly balanced, drink — solid, simple, satisfying, the color of parchment. Classic, as they say. Just add sugar…to the rim Somewhere along the way — let’s call it 1934 just for sport — the drink picked up a sugared rim.

The great Dale DeGroff , in his 2008 The Essential Cocktail, recommends the 2:1:1 ratio along with the sugar rim, explaining that the flourish is an adaptation of Jerry Thomas’ [ him again ] Brandy Crusta [page 52 of his Bartender’s Guide, for those following along via knockoff reprint]. And so with the contemporary Sidecar we have a classically balanced drink — with an added garnish that tips it, for me, into an unwholesome sweetness. And so it’s tinker time again. A Measured Spirit’s Sidecar Recipe 1.5 oz cognac .65 oz Cointreau Sugar I use Demerara, which adds a certain “whole grain crunch” that musters a bit of pre-manufacturing age authenticity nb: The comically precise portions of Cointreau and lemon above can be easily translated to: “A little more than .75 lemon juice, a little less than .75 Cointreau.” Here, the eyeball method is sufficient — the exception that proves the rule.

How to make the Sidecar Sugar a glass [coupe, martini] by moistening the rim and half an inch or so of the outside edge with the face of a sliced lemon. Put a tablespoon of sugar on a saucer and roll the glass’ edge carefully and slowly so the sugar adheres. With multiple orbits you’re just as likely to lose sugar as add it, so try to get a smooth coat the first time through. Put it in the freezer. Combine ingredients, shake. Taste the mix. If you say,”Not bad, but that’s a little too tart,” you’ve nailed it. If needed, add a tiny bit of lemon juice and reshake quickly. Strain into the sugared glass. How to drink the Sidecar Place your lower lip on the glass so you pick up a good bit of the sugar. Transport the sugar, pachyderm-like, into your mouth. Sip the drink slowly, holding the liquid in your mouth a bit longer than usual. Mix in your mouth, not in your hand I suspect you know where this is going. You’re actually finishing the drink in your mouth, adding sugar to the slightly-too-tart drink .

It’s a remarkable sensation, and rewarding in curious ways: The act of drinking actually completes the beverage. The drinker becomes collaborator, not mere recipient. Notes: If you’ve used Demerara sugar, you get extra frisson on the lip. A purist might cringe — but they probably cringed at the sugar rim anyway, so what the hell. The Sidecar has a typically rollicking, uncertain, and compelling back story, involving several mutually exclusive claims of authorship, some guy’s motorcycle, an extension of cultural hostilities between the English and the French, and a lineage of recipes a whole lot sweeter and drier than where contemporary consensus has landed. Inspired by a cheerful barkeep named Jay at a now-shuttered French restaurant in Georgetown, D.C., I sometimes use as a base Armangnac [toggle to translate this link from French to English]. Like brandy, armangac is a distilled French wine, but with some added fragrant, woody notes. It contributes some subtle flavors that add interest to the drink, in my estimation. Another shiv into the ribs of a classic, I realize. The taste buds that pick up sugar may or may not be located at the tip of the tongue.

If true, that would really validate my approach. But most scientists now think the whole tongue-diagram thing is bullshit , or semi-bullshit. No matter. Your mouth picks up the sweet. Everything else is geek pendantry. Care to share? The Classic Sidecar Cocktail Recipe Strain into a chilled cocktail glass . Garnish with a lemon twist. A classic addition to the Sidecar, which was mentioned in recipes from the early 1930's, was to rim the glass with sugar . This is a nice contrast to the sour drink. If you would like to make this cocktail just a touch sweeter, try using the Spanish brandy de Jerez . The History of the Sidecar As most origins of cocktails go, there are a few different stories about how the Sidecar came into being. One story, as told by David Embury in "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" (1948), says that it was developed in a Parisian bistro during World War I by a friend who rode up to a favorite bar in a motorcycle's sidecar. Which bar this was is left to speculation, but it is popularly thought to be Harry's New York Bar.

Another claim to the Sidecar invention attributes Frank Meier who worked at the Paris Ritz Hotel. As Gary "Gaz" Regan pointed out in " The Joy of Mixology ," this was later disputed by a man named Bertin who worked at the Ritz after Meier. The next story moves to Buck's Club in London, the supposed home of the French 75 as well. In his 1922 book, Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails, Harry MacElhone credits the drink to Pat MacGarry, one of the great bartenders of the day. This was backed up in Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails and How to Mix Them. It should also be noted that MacElhone owned Harry's New York Bar and that he also credits Buck's Club for the French 75 in his book. While he was a popular bartender of the day, he was also very honest (it seems, anyway) and did not take credit himself for the drinks he's often credited with. Classic Sour Drinks Which theory is correct will remain a matter of debate and opinion. One thing that is agreed upon is that the Sidecar is a classic sour drink.

Sours were quite popular during the golden age of cocktails in the early 1900's and were a simple mix of base spirit, sour (primarily lemon) and a touch of sweetness. Other great sour drinks came about at the same time. Among the greats are the Brandy Daisy , the Whiskey Sour , and the Margarita . How Strong is the Sidecar? Short drinks like the Sidecar are served ​'short' because they pack a punch. They are made mostly of liquor and it's only natural to keep these potent drinks nice and small. With an 80-proof base liquor, the average Sidecar weighs in right around 26% ABV (52 proof) . This is in line with similar drinks like the Martini and Manhattan . More Sidecar Cocktails The Sidecar has influenced many other cocktails and some are classics as well. Others are new creations and play off the popular sour base. Balalaika ( vodka instead of brandy) Sidecar Cocktail Recipe 59 comments - 11.06.2009 For someone who doesn’t drink that much, I sure have a lot of liquor on my liquor shelf. I guess I should rephrase that.

For someone who drinks an a lot of wine, but not a lot of liquor, I sure have a lot of liquor on my liquor shelf. The French don’t have anything on us Americans when it comes to drinking cocktails, although that seems to be changing a bit. Fruity, sweet drinks won’t likely catch on around here, which I’m happy about, but minty Mojitos are popular, fueled on by their love of a fascination with anything Cuban. And one of my commenters got a big laugh out of me when I was explaining in another post the lack of ice cubes in Paris, and she said, “The only time you get a lot of ice in Paris is when you order a cocktail.” They may not do ice, but the French do have us beat in the grammar department, though, because Happy Hour is actually Happy Hours. I mean, has there ever really been a one-hour happy hour? If so, it doesn’t sound like enough time to really get happy. But cafés with signs offering cocktails get hung in the windows, Parisians are all-too happy to partake.

(Although last night I stopped in a café up in Ménilmontant and they had a sign up for a TGV, which wasn’t an ad for France’s high-speed train; it was a cocktail with just tequila, gin, and vodka. It gave me a laugh, but still, the combination didn’t make me want to order one.) I used to love martinis (made with gin, thank you, which everyone knows are the only kind…), but since moving to France, I’ve mostly given up cocktails in my declining years. However when I was in San Francisco, one of my other commenters (thanks Dawn ) told me to make sure to have a Sidecar. And when I was at Nopa , they had an armagnac Sidecar on the menu. Since I’d just returned from Cognac, I was interested in this giving one a go, Cognac or not. (I did write to spirits expert Jason White about the San Francisco and Sidecar connection, and he was pretty baffled, as I was. I’m not sure what the connection is, but it didn’t stop me from trying one. Matt had a rum one, but wouldn’t give me a taste.

So I assume that was pretty good, too.) And yet another commenter pointed out, in one of my San Francisco posts, how un-proficient some of us in the food business are when it comes to mixing cocktails. Fair enough, since my only experience mixing drinks semi-professionally was when I was the pastry chef in a restaurant and the bartender’s girlfriend was in a car accident and I hopped behind the bar to pitch in. Seriously, I didn’t know what half of the cocktails I was mixing up were. But figured if I just made them incredibly strong, no one would complain. Which, by the way, worked very well. A few times I’ve made Cosmopolitans at home for friends, and after a certain someone’s 67-kilo partner had half of one, he was soon was lying on the floor. So either I’m doing something right. Or something kinda wrong. I was cleaning my liquor shelf the other day, which gave me a change to revisit some of the oddities hidden up there, like the blue Curaçao that I bought for recipe testing last year.

I scoured Paris for the clear stuff, but by 7:58 pm, standing exasperated in the géant gourmet food hall of the Galleries Lafayette , I realized I just wasn’t going to find the real thing and gave in and bought went for the blue. I used about a shot of it for the recipe I was testing and reluctantly, hoped to finish off the rest of it to plump raisins for Persimmon Bread , thinking the color would be hidden by the dark dried fruits. No such luck, as it turned out. When I began slicing the bread, I saw that the raisins had turned a iridescent, eerie neon-green. It was nothing that a smear of Madame Loïk couldn’t have hid. But I didn’t have any and had some convincing to do to get anyone to eat it. Understandably. Then there’s the tall bottle of Amaro that I bought in Florence, thinking how nice it might be to sip bitter digestive after dinner—which I haven’t done in the four-plus years since I bought it. There’s the bottle of armagnac someone gave me as a gift that was so expensive, it’s in danger of becoming too good to use .

And there’s a bottle of marsala from Italy, which is practically walking distance from here, that cost me more than three-times what it costs five thousand miles away, in California. That I’m saving as a souvenir of one of my first wtf moments . For someone who writes and follows recipes for a living, I rarely think about following a recipe for cocktails. It just seems like drinks should be intuitive. Nevertheless, after whipping up a couple of shakers of Sidecars, I thought I’d share the recipe, since they might help you use up some of that liquor that’s sitting there, waiting to be used around your place. So if anyone has ideas for using that nearly-full bottle of blue Curaçao, I’m all ears. (Note: I don’t drink blue cocktails. Even I have my limits.) I guess I could hope that my house cleaner might mistakenly use it for cleaning the windows. Since she’s got that impressive right hook, I’m wary of telling her what to do. So if anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears.

Sidecars Print Recipe Makes 2 generous cocktails Reading a bit about the drink, some folks think the original Sidecar, with equal proportions of lemon juice, orange-flavored liqueur, and Cognac, is on the sweet side. With all that lemon juice, to me, the drink is rather puckery and I tried a sip without the sugared rim and decided it’s de rigeur. There is a Sidecar from the “English School”, which uses twice as much Cognac as the other ingredients. (The version here is sometimes referred to a “French” Sidecar, which is why I feel it’s okay to include this cocktail on my blog.) So feel free to add more Cognac to taste, if you find it sweet. Or rim half of the glass with superfine sugar, so folks can decide if they want the sugar or not. If you don’t have superfine sugar, whiz a bit of granulated in the blender or food processor a few seconds until it’s finely-ground.

1/2 cup (125ml) freshly-squeezed lemon juice 1/2 cup (125ml) Grand Marnier or Cointreau 1/2 cup (125ml) Cognac (or brandy) superfine (castor) sugar, for the rim 2 strips of lemon zest, for garnish 1. Dip the rims of two chilled glasses partly in superfine sugar. 2. Fill a cocktail shaker half-full with ice. 3. Add the lemon juice, Grand Marnier, and Cognac to the shaker, and shake vigorously for about ten seconds. 4. Divide the Sidecar mixture between the two glasses. Add a strip of lemon zest to each. Related Links & Posts Sidecar Cocktail An opportunity to develop the brand management team for Atom Supplies Ltd..... Sidecar Cocktail Email Words by: Simon Difford The Sidecar is a classic cocktail made with cognac, triple sec orange liqueur and lemon juice. Traditionally made to be on the slightly sour side of balanced, it is often served in a glass with a sugared rim to compensate.

However, modern bartenders tend to forgo the sugared rim and balance when mixing with the addition of a dash of sugar syrup or other sweetener. Recipe The proportions of this drink are debated as much as its origin. Perhaps due to ease rather than balance, the equal parts formula (1 x brandy, 1 x triple sec and 1 x lemon juice) was the earliest published recipe (Harry McElhone's 1919 ABC of Cocktails and Robert Vermeire's 1922 Cocktails: How to Mix Them) and still seems popular to this day. In his 1948 Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David A. Embury writes of the 'equal parts' Sidecar, "This is the most perfect example of a magnificent drink gone wrong". He argues that "Essentially the Sidecar is nothing but a Daiquiri with brandy in the place of rum and Cointreau in the place of sugar syrup" and so the Daiquiri formula should be followed (2 x brandy, 1/2 x triple sec and 1/4 lemon juice). This may work for a Daiquiri but makes for an overly dry Sidecar.

In his 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock calls for 2 x brandy, 1 x Cointreau and 1 x lemon juice. MacElhone and Vermiere' s equal parts recipe are referred to by some as belonging to "the French school" while the Savoy's 2:1:1 formula is said to be from the "English school". My Sidecar recipe takes the middle ground between The Savoy and the 'equal parts' camp. I also find this drink benefits from a dash of Pineau des Charentes or sugar syrup to help balance the citrus and, if using just-out-the freezer ice, a little extra dilution. Garnish There have been periods when it has been fashionable to coat the rim of the glass in which this drink is served with sugar. The earliest written reference to this is in 1934. Thankfully sugar rims are now out of vogue and, as Embury writes in his book, "A twist of lemon may be used if desired and the peel dropped into the glass. Otherwise no decoration." History In his 1948 Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David A.

Embury says of the Sidecar's origin: "It was invented by a friend of mine at a bar in Paris during World War I and was named after the motorcycle sidecar in which the good captain customarily was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened." Embury doesn't name the bar but it's commonly assumed that he meant Harry's New York Bar and that the cocktail was created by its owner, Harry MacElhone. However, in early editions (1919 and 1922) of Harry's own ABC of Cocktails he credits the drink to Pat MacGarry "the Popular bar-tender at Buck's Club, London", but in later editions appears to take credit for the drink himself. In his 1922 Cocktails How To Mix Them, Robert Vermeire writes, "This cocktail is very popular in France. It was first introduced in London by McGarry, the celebrated bar-tender of Buck's Club." Like so many classic cocktails we shall probably never know who created/named the Sidecar cocktail but it would appear to have Parisian origins and to have been popularised by McGarry at London's Bucks Club.

Sidecar recipes & variations 25 Cocktails Everyone Should Know | Serious Eats 25 Cocktails Everyone Should Know 53 Have you tried all of these essential drinks? [Photographs: Vicky Wasik except where noted.] We who like to mix drinks at home do it for many reasons: First, it's cheaper than drinking out. Second, it's fun to mix your own drinks at home. Third, it's even more fun to mix drinks for other people at home. Any self-respecting home bartender should have a mental Rolodex Excel spreadsheet of favorite classic cocktail recipes. Even if these aren't fully memorized, you should be able to find the recipe in your home library at quick notice to serve them to your friends. Today, I present the 25 essential drinks that I think everyone should be able to make. I'm not including any highballs here. If you can't mix up a gin and tonic or a whiskey and soda without a recipe, you're not ready for Cocktail 101 . Take some remedial classes and get back to me.

25 Essential Cocktails Last Word Old Fashioned The origins of the word "cocktail" are lost to history, but the first definition we find in print comes from an 1806 newspaper from upstate New York. A cocktail is called "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters..." Over the course of the 19th century, the cocktail picked up a number of additions and refinements: liqueurs, fortified wines, various bits of garnish, et cetera. Eventually, some drinkers came to prefer a simpler form of cocktail, the type their grandfathers might have enjoyed, and so they'd ask the bartender to make them an "old-fashioned" cocktail, of booze, sugar muddled into water to form a syrup, and bitters. If you want to experience the ur-cocktail, or if you just enjoy deliciousness, the Old Fashioned is the drink for you. Note that the original definition called for spirits of any kind. You can make a tasty Old Fashioned from whiskey, of course, but also from tequila, mezcal, brandy, rum, genever, and to a lesser extent, aquavit or gin.

I have even been desperate enough to attempt a vodka old fashioned, but I can't say I enjoyed it. Stick with more robustly flavored spirits. Back to the full list » Martinez Grandfather to the modern martini, the Martinez is a drink of gin (Old Tom, if you can; try Ransom or Hayman's), sweet vermouth, maraschino or curaçao, and bitters. It's a sweeter drink than the typical dry martini, but the flavor is complex and refreshing. Assembling the ingredients requires some outlay of funds, but if you're within spitting distance of a respectable craft-cocktail bar, you should be able to sample one there. I wouldn't say a Martinez is on my list of weekly cocktail treats, but I do enjoy one every few months or so. I consider the drink important not just from a historical standpoint, but also as a glimpse of how diverse the world of cocktails can be. Get the Martinez recipe » Martini And here's the grandbaby, though now venerable in its own right. Within reason, you can mix this one up however you want, and it's still a martini. Make it extra wet with equal parts gin and vermouth.

Make it ultradry with merely a wisp of vermouth. Shake. Stir. (Blend? Now that's just crazy.) Garnish with an olive, a lemon twist, an onion, a slice of cucumber. Going gin shopping? Here are our favorite gins to use in a martini . Back to the full list » Manhattan If there were no other reason to include this drink on this list, I'd still put the Manhattan here for the best reason of all: your grandmother drinks them. Now, I'm pretty flexible on the Old Fashioned and the Martini. Mix an OF with mezcal or rhum agricole and I'll shake your hand; shake up an ultra-dry martini, and I'll drink it happily. But please, no weak bourbons in my Manhattan. Give me a bourbon with a muscular rye-heavy mashbill, or just give me rye to begin with. Mix it sweet or mix it perfect (half sweet vermouth, half dry), but don't bother with a dry Manhattan, seriously. Back to the full list » Brooklyn A Manhattan variation that launched a cocktail family of its own.

The Brooklyn adapts the formula for a perfect Manhattan, which is rye or bourbon, dry vermouth, and sweet vermouth. The Brooklyn swaps the sweet for a blend of maraschino liqueur and amaro. Historically, it called for Amer Picon, which is very hard to find in the United States. You can use Ramazotti in place of Picon. In fact, you can use lots of things in place of Picon. If you use Punt e Mes, you have a Red Hook cocktail, named after the Brooklyn neighborhood. Other Brooklyn nabes lend their names to other Brooklyn variations. The Greenpoint uses Chartreuse (yellow, though, strangely); the Bensonhurst calls for Cynar; and the Bushwick requires Carpano Antica vermouth in addition to the Amer Picon and maraschino. My current Brooklyn haunts are Kensington and Ditmas Park, and a quick search doesn't turn up any Brooklyn variants named for those neighborhoods. I should work on that. Back to the full list » Daiquiri Here, with the daiquiri, you have what I call a perfect litmus-test cocktail.

Whenever I get a new rum, I almost always want to try it two different ways—sipped with a little ice, and mixed into a daiquiri. I find that the lime and sugar in a daiquiri complement the rum and highlight its flavors. I learn more about a rum mixed into a daiquiri than I do by just sipping it on its own. The only exception, I find, are rich, funky rums, such as rhums agricole. These tend to overpower the other ingredients. Back to the full list » Margarita I would love to say that everyone remembers their first Margarita, but we all know that's not true. I think it's even possible that no one remembers their first Margarita. I admit, sometimes when I'm out to dinner at a Mexican or Tex-Mex place and I want a margarita, I don't always care whether it's made with fresh ingrdients or from pre-mix. But I will never buy pre-mix for my home bar, and neither should you. The margarita is a simple recipe, just three ingredients, so there's no excuse for pre-mix.

Get a good tequila (100% agave), a decent triple sec, and fresh limes, and you're almost guaranteed a great drink. Sidecar [Photo: Carey Jones] An unlikely cousin to the Margarita, the Sidecar falls into the same Sour family as the tequila classic. In fact, once you know how to make a Margarita by heart, you pretty much know how to make a Sidecar: they're basically the same drink. One uses tequila and lime, whereas the other calls for cognac and lemon, but the template is spirit, orange liqueur, and citrus. What always amazes me, though, is how the character of the base spirit changes the feel of the drink. A Margarita feels like summer to me, drinking al fresco on a bright, warm day. A Sidecar, though, because of the warmth and mellowness of cognac, feels like a drink to sip, if not by a fire, then definitely in a dark bar on a cool fall night. These drinks may have a common pedigree, but they're as individual as feuding sisters.

Back to the full list » French 75 If you're a cocktail geek, and you don't have the French 75 in your repertoire for parties, I'm sorry, but you're not a cocktail geek. I took the makings for French 75s to the home of some new friends a few years ago, and although my wife and I started the night as the only gin fans in the house, I wound up converting everyone else to the cause that night. You can't count on much in life, but you can always expect that sparkling cocktails will play well at parties. Back to the full list » Bloody Mary I'm breaking my highball rule here, but that's okay because I don't think of the Bloody Mary as a highball. Though nearly every cocktail manual I own lists it as such, I take a different view. A highball just means pouring a shot or so of booze and topping it off with a non-alcoholic mixer, usually from a gun or a bottle. Fine, you can make Bloody Marys that way if you're lazy and buy a bottled mix. But a good Bloody Mary mix is prepared in-house or at home from high-quality tomato juice and whatever other juices and spices you like.

For home drinking, I mix mine à la minute. I juice lemons; I dash in bitters. I go to at least as much work as I do when mixing a cocktail. So screw it, it's a cocktail, not a highball. Back to the full list » Irish Coffee Regrettably, perhaps, we've gotten away from the breakfast/brunch cocktail. If anyone tells you that Irish Coffee is a sweet drink, scald them with your coffee. You only need a little sugar, your Irish, your coffee, and a dollop of lightly whipped cream atop. Jack Rose [Photo: J. Kenji López-Alt] A deceptively simple looking recipe, the Jack Rose calls for applejack, lime juice, and grenadine. The way these flavors blend together is simply delicious. Make the grenadine yourself ; it's easy and it's quick. (Although bottled pomegranate juice will do; no need to make your own juice.) Take the time and spend the money to track down Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy for this, too. It has a rich, fresh apple flavor that's much more satisfying than the blended applejack Laird's also sells.

(The blended product mixes apple brandy with neutral grain spirit. It's more flavorful than an apple vodka, but nowhere near as tasty as the bonded.) Back to the full list » Negroni I don't think I understand people who don't love Negronis. The blend of bitter and sweet, the herbal complexity, the refreshing pleasure—you gotta be nuts not to like this. Like the Martini, the Negroni is a drink that's open to tinkering. Start with the classic 1:1:1 ratio and go from there. It's fun. Try blending vermouths, too. Right now, I like a Negroni that's 2 parts gin, 1 part Campari, and 1/2 part each of Carpano Antica vermouth and Martini & Rossi. Want more ideas? Here are 11 more ! Back to the full list » Boulevardier Now, some might say this only qualifies as a Negroni variation. I don't think so. I think it's a fine cocktail in its own right, and delicious enough to belong on this list. In fact, I even know a person or two who prefers the Boulevardier to the Negroni.

Since my favorite spirit is rye, I sympathize. Back to the full list » Sazerac Now for a few New Orleans classics. We'll start with the Sazerac. Nothing beats sipping one while spinning around the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone, but making them at home certainly comes close. The Sazerac would be among my desert-island cocktails, except for the unfortunate fact that it's very hard to find ice on a desert island. Back to the full list » Vieux Carré Speaking of the Monteleone, the Vieux Carré (or Old Square, another term for the French Quarter) originated at the hotel in 1938. The cocktail blends rye, cognac, Benedictine, and vermouth, along with Peychaud's and Angostura. I've had more than my share of these at the Carousel Bar, too. Ramos Gin Fizz [Photo: Robyn Lee] Break out your blender for this one. The Ramos Gin Fizz is a complex drink, of gin (naturally), lemon and lime juices, simple syrup, orange flower water, cream, an egg white, and (optionally) vanilla extract.

Traditionally, it has the hell shaken out of it, first without ice, so that the ingredients emulsify, and then with ice, so it gets extremely cold and frothy. But Gary Regan, a smarter man than I am, insists that it's perfectly fine to use your blender for this one, so feel free, unless you're trying to tone up your arms. Back to the full list » Mint Julep A few years ago, we lived in an apartment with backyard access. In addition to grilling out, smoking cigars, and enjoying cocktails on the veranda, we kept a garden. One year, the mint came in so abundantly we had mint juleps every day for a week. That was a great week. Back to the full list » Whiskey Sour Another simple-to-make cocktail, the Whiskey Sour calls for bourbon or rye, lemon juice, and sugar. If you want a splash of orange juice in there, too, I won't stop you. This is a basic drink, of course, but it belongs in your arsenal because you'll probably have guests over one night, and sometimes your guests prefer basic drinks.

As long as you have whiskey, lemons, and sugar on hand, you can always pull this one out. Back to the full list » Mai Tai My tiki-swilling friends are all saying now, "About time you got a tiki drink on here, Dietsch." It ain't every bar that does a Mai Tai correctly; in fact, it's probably still relatively rare to find one that does, unfortunately. Which is all the more reason to learn how to make them at home. The hardest part is finding everything you need: two rums (preferably, though one will do, if it's a rich-tasting dark rum), orange curaçao, and orgeat (try the one from Small Hand Foods.) Shake everything and strain it over fresh ice. (Heck, you don't even have to do that; I've often just dumped the entire mixing glass into a chilled rocks glass and called it a day.) Planter's Punch [Photograph: Robyn Lee] A beautiful, and necessary, drink for summer. Dark rum, lime and lemon, grenadine, and simple syrup. Yum. Hell, go crazy and get some umbrellas or fancy straws and be all festive and stuff.

Paul Clarke's recipe leaves out the grenadine, you'll note. I don't know whether the grenadine is traditional or one of those later additions that make the geekiest of geeks angry. At any rate, if you're using it, use the DIY stuff, and replace half of Clarke's simple syrup: so, half an ounce simple, half an ounce grenadine. Back to the full list » Cosmopolitan Yes! The Cosmopolitan is on this list! It's a popular drink, and so if you host parties with any regularity, someone will ask you for one. (I made so many at one party, I should have premade and bottled them.) And you know what? It's a better drink than you think it is. The Cosmopolitan is a cultural touchstone because once upon a time, Dale DeGroff got one into the hands of Madonna at the Rainbow Room and it became the drink to be seen with. Then HBO and SJP, of course, made the drink ubiquitous and clichéd. Nevertheless, sours (like Sidecars, Margaritas, and Daiquiris) are fundamental cocktails, and the Cosmopolitan is, simply stated, the best Vodka Sour around.

Back to the full list » Pisco Sour I don't know what else I can say about sours that I haven't already said about the Margarita, the Sidecar, and the Whiskey Sour. All I can say is that the pisco version is excellent; the unaged grape brandy makes for a drink that has a character distinct from its cousins—it's lightly floral and fresh. The addition of an egg white makes the drink creamy and luscious. Back to the full list » Tom Collins Collinses, historically, are a class of cocktails calling for a spirit, simple syrup, lemon juice, and soda water. The Tom calls for gin, of course. Historically, that would have been Old Tom gin, hence the name, but these days London dry is common. Try it with Old Tom if you have it, though. Or sub in the spirit of your choice; just about anything will work in this formula. This drink is so refreshing and so easy to sip that I think anyone who likes to drink should be able to make one. Yes, yes, you can skimp and pour gin into a glass and top it off with Sprite.

The first time I was ever inebriated was on a Sprite-version Tom Collins, at a cousin's wedding when I was in high school. I have a soft spot for such Collins knockoffs, but I still urge you not to make it this way. The drink is much more delicious made with fresh, real juice. Back to the full list » Last Word What a story this drink has! If this were a story about a forgotten boxer, rediscovered years later by a fight aficionado, Clint Eastwood would have already directed the film by now. The drink arose in Detroit during Prohibition, but fell into neglect for decades until rediscovered by Murray Stenson in Seattle. The Last Word is a complex, herbaceous drink, and like the French 75, it's one that I think would make a gin lover out of almost anyone.

Question: Which spirit is the base of a Sidecar cocktail?
Answer: Brandy